Why the Government and Māori are divided over Treaty principles - On the Tiles

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters lead the Government delegation onto the marae at Ratana Pa. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The political year has barely begun, but 2024 already seems set to be dominated by discussions of the Treaty of Waitangi’s place in New Zealand.

As part of the coalition agreement between National, Act and NZ First, the Government intends to introduce a bill this term to define the principles of the Treaty. The move has already soured the Government’s relationship with Māori, with a national hui last weekend, critical speeches at Ratana this week and more protest expected at Waitangi next month.

With this set to be one of the key political talking points of the year, in the first episode of On the Tiles for the year, host Thomas Coughlan is joined by Victoria University of Wellington professor Dr Luke Fitzmaurice-Brown (Te Aupōuri) for a deep dive discussion into the differences between the Treaty and Te Tiriti.

Fitzmaurice-Brown said the Treaty principles emerged in the 70s and 80s through the court system, which has led more recently to mentions of those principles appearing in legislation.

“And they all come from this idea, which some have cast doubt on whether this is a sound foundation, that the two versions of the Treaty - Te Tiriti, which is the language we usually use to describe the te reo Māori text, and the Treaty, which is usually how we describe the English text - are irreconcilable, that they say different things, they mean different things.

“And therefore, the pragmatic compromise in inverted commas that was reached from the 70s and 80s onwards was that we need these principles to find a way through that, to make the Treaty workable, to find the middle ground, to find the spirit or the underlying intention of the document, given that we can’t know for sure what was actually intended, with these translation differences.”

Listen to the full episode of the On the Tiles podcast for more on how the Treaty Principles show up in law, how they relate to the original documents, the importance of He Whakaputanga to this discussion, and why the Principles are based on a “myth”.

On the Tiles is available on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes are available on Fridays. The podcast is hosted by NZ Herald deputy politics editor, Thomas Coughlan.